Neptune’s newest musical hasn’t even hit the stage yet and its run has already been extended
People are really, really excited that Neptune Theatre is staging a musical, play version of Will Ferrell’s greatest film, Elf: So excited, in fact, that tickets for the show are already 80 percent sold—a whopping amount, considering it hasn’t even hit the stage yet. But, the venerable theatre knows when to double down on a…
We’re giving away two tickets to see disco treasure Boney M. at the Scotiabank Centre Nov 22
Four-piece disco act Boney M. is returning to Halifax this November, just in time to remind you that it’s the group responsible for one of the GOAT-est holiday albums ever: The 1984 opus Christmas with Boney M. The band is bringing along original lead singer Liz Mitchell, too, meaning this is gonna be one red-hot…
North Preston R&B sensation Reeny Smith announces Nova Scotian tour
Just as the days have been growing oppressively short, a host of musicians have spent this week announcing upcoming shows around HRM. The latest of the pack is none other than Reeny Smith, who’ll be playing a Dartmouth show on December 15 at Monte’s Showbar as part of tour spanning the mainland portion of the…
The clock falls back on Sunday, and most of you would rather it not
On Sunday at 2am, daylight saving time ends and we “fall back” one hour to be on standard time. (You can sleep through it. The phone companies will take care of changing the time on the cell network, just don’t be surprised in the morning when your phone shows 10 o’clock and the microwave claims…
Tickets for Shania Twain’s June 2023 Halifax gig go on sale today, November 4.
Let’s go girls! It’s time to bust out the credit cards and refresh Ticket Atlantic’s site in your browser, because Shania Twain’s 2023 Halifax show is going on sale today, November 4, at 10am. Part of an extensive tour stopping everywhere from Las Vegas to Moncton, Halifax’s show will be held June 12 at the…
The Rolling Stones: UNZIPPED comes to Halifax this December
While it won’t quite be reliving the muddy glory of the time Mick, Keith and the crew played on the Halifax Common, it’s a pretty good substitute: The Rolling Stones: UNZIPPED announced today it’s adding a third and final stop to its Canadian tour, right here in Halifax. A sweeping retrospective museum show crafted by…
Lisa LeBlanc will play Halifax as part of February 2023 Maritime tour
Music nerds and Acadians alike got a reason to get hyped this week when Quebec music label Bonsound announced one of its star signees, Lisa LeBlanc, will be touring the Maritimes this February. The jaunt of dates include two Moncton shows (February 8 and 9) as well as a Halifax gig at The Marquee on…
Joel Plaskett Emergency announces February 11 Halifax show
Ashtray Rock fans, get ready: Joel Plaskett is reuniting his never-really-broken-up band, Joel Plaskett Emergency, for a rare hometown show slated for February 11, 2023. Held at the Light House Arts Centre, the gig promises to be a mid-winter warmup, with a start time of 8pm. Plaskett is arguably Dartmouth’s most famous export, a singer-songwriter…
Meet the 2SLGBTQ+ artists reshaping Halifax’s beauty industry
Julien Grey will not go quietly into the night. As an openly trans esthetician in Lower Sackville, they’ve made a point of rallying for gender-inclusive services—from haircuts to Brazilian waxes—within Halifax’s beauty industry. “I’m loud,” the diminutive Grey, who uses they/them pronouns, tells The Coast. “People shouldn’t be denied services for the body parts they…
Sue Goyette’s new book Monoculture asks us to value the forest before we lose it
Sometimes, it feels like poet-author Sue Goyette has spent a lifetime parsing the forest for the trees. Long inspired by nature, wildness and humanity’s need for both, a Goyette work is never far from soil or seed—proved by almost every entry in her bibliography, from her 2015 Nova Scotia Masterwork Arts Award-winning book Ocean to…
Brace yourself for a longer fall tick season in Nova Scotia
Picture this: You’ve just returned from an early November stroll through Point Pleasant Park or the 12-kilometre in-and-out trek to Cape Split when you notice you’ve got unwanted company. Is it a freckle? A mole? Wait… are those legs? You begin to spiral. Oh, god, it’s an alien. Nope. It’satickitsatickitsatick. You manage to pry it…
John Mulaney is coming to Halifax on Nov. 4
John Mulaney will perform his newest hour of standup at the Scotiabank Centre in downtown Halifax on Friday, Nov. 4 as part of his From Scratch tour. After a highly publicized and eventful past year, the comedian’s latest title suggests he is embarking on something entirely new. So, in the spirit of looking forward, The…
Your water bill is going up in Halifax. Here’s how much—and why.
If you’re connected to Halifax’s water system, your first shower in December will cost more than the last one in November. The municipally-owned Halifax Water, which provides water, wastewater and stormwater utilities throughout the HRM, is upping its rates—twice. The rate hikes will come as a pair of 3.6% bumps, first on Dec. 1, and…
Meet Edith, the 90-year-old doll with paranormal tendencies
When we asked our readers if they believe in ghosts—most said they do—we also received some messages about paranormal experiences people have had around Halifax. That’s how we met Lizzy Hawkins, an antique collector and vintage seller who has an extraordinary friend: a composite doll from the 1930s that may or not be the cause…
Vandal Doughnuts is closing its doors—for now
No, Vandal Doughnuts isn’t gone for good. Or at least, that’s the message owner Jens Heidenreich tells The Coast when reached by phone on a late Friday afternoon. But as you might’ve heard rumoured online, the 2150 Gottingen Street donut shop is, indeed, closing for the time being. With a change in ownership and a…
Curtain call at Neptune Theatre as general manager bids adieu
Atlantic Canada’s largest theatre company is changing its cast. After six years at Neptune Theatre, general manager Lisa Bugden is stepping down from her post, the performing arts company shared in a release this week. In her place, longtime marketing executive Catherine Bagnell Styles will assume an interim general manager role as Neptune seeks a…
Tenants say landlord held thousands in unreturned security deposits
Neena Brostowski says she’s been waiting four years for Michael Lawen to return her security deposit. The Dartmouth-based wedding photographer was a tenant of Lawen’s between 2017 and 2018, while she and her then-roommate were students at Dalhousie and NSCC’s Akerley campus. For Brostowski at the time, the location was great: One house in from…
We caught the ghost of Alexander Keith on camera
Last week, we asked our readers if they think ghosts are real. The results are in, and it turns out the majority of Haligonians (or at least the ones who answer our weekly polls) believe the dead walk among us. On Twitter, 66% of respondents said ghosts are real, and on Instagram a whopping 73%…
A recession is here. Can Halifax’s small businesses hold on?
It’s never been easy to be a small business: More than a third of Canada’s new businesses fold after three years. But toss in a pandemic and global downturn, and the added financial uncertainties can sound like a death knell.
Everything you need to know about HRM council’s Oct. 25 meeting
It was a pretty boring HRM council meeting—a smattering of grants for community groups; a bit of extra money going out the door due to “inflationary pressures.” The only real big-ticket item to pass through Tuesday’s meeting was the official opening of budget pre-season. Council’s budget season is the highlight of municipal politics. It’s the…
Much ado about data at HRM’s Oct. 24 executive council meeting
HRM’s executive council met on Monday and talked mainly about data. At the start of the pandemic, there was an increased concern about the safety of Asian women and non-binary people in the city, so the Women’s Advisory Committee asked for a staff report to find out how much of an issue it is, and…
When you can watch Mattea Roach on Jeopardy! in November
In what can aptly be described as the Super Bowl for trivia nerds, Nova Scotia’s Jeopardy! superchampion Mattea Roach will take to the Alex Trebek Stage once again for the show’s annual Tournament of Champions. She’ll compete against other top contestants from the past year vying to be crowned the best of the best and…
Jimmy Rankin has a Christmas present for you
With two months to go until Christmas, Sonic Concerts is marking the occasion by announcing a Jimmy Rankin concert in Halifax on November 25, one month before the big Christian holiday. Called Warming Up For Winter, the show will have plenty of seasonal songs from Rankin’s repertoire—his Christmas-themed album Tinsel Town came out in 2012—as…
Love Peace and Hairgrease is the new, original musical you need to see
When The Coast reaches Eastern Front Theatre’s executive director Kat McCormack by phone, it takes a minute for the call to settle. McCormack plugs in headphones, but the background noise is deliciously inescapable. Rooms away from where McCormack is sequestered, the cast, crew, director and live band of EFT and Charles Taylor Theatre & Media…
Blue Mountain Birch Cove Lakes at risk after Supreme Court of Canada decision
Friday has been a bad day for the city. Premier Tim Houston’s PC party has decided to toss out municipal planning and change the HRM’s charter. Housing Minister John Lohr’s bill, introduced today, will give the provincial government a veto over any bylaw the city makes about housing or development. The bill was introduced on…
A 125-year-old Edward Street house is officially a heritage property, and Dalhousie isn’t happy about it
Halifax Regional Council has saved a 125-year-old Edward Street house from Dalhousie University’s wrecking ball—for now. At Tuesday’s heated heritage hearing, councillors voted 13-4 to designate 1245 Edward Street as a heritage property. That being said, Dalhousie has no obligation to maintain the building and can still apply to demolish it—but the process to tear…
How to beat Halifax’s sriracha shortage
If you’ve wandered the aisles of your nearest big box grocery store in the last few months, you might’ve stumbled upon something troubling and unfamiliar—no, not the armed Halifax police officers in the bread aisle this time, or “some dumb kid” at the checkout asking if you’d like a discount. An “unprecedented” crop shortage, first…
Everything you need to know about HRM council’s Oct. 18 meeting
City council had a meeting Tuesday that was mostly routine, except for one huge two-hour debate about 1245 Edward Street, the house Dalhousie wanted to demolish this spring. Dalhousie showed up to council to say the house should not be protected. Dal brought a lawyer, a vice president and a government relations director, went on…
Why Dalhousie’s teaching assistants, part-time instructors, markers and demonstrators are on strike
Teaching assistants, part-time instructors, markers and demonstrators at Dalhousie University are officially on strike after last-minute negotiations between the CUPE 3912 union and the university on Tuesday failed. On Wednesday morning, employees picketed outside the school and students passing by gave cheers of support for their teachers. The approximately 1,500 Dalhousie employees represented by CUPE…
Saint Mary’s University Art Gallery extends its show JIM until December 11
When a trio of famous rock musicians combine forces, we call it a supergroup. But what about when three big-deal visual artists combine their catalogues and creative energy? Well, we don’t really have a pop culture term for that—at least not yet. But, you can still see it in action by catching the show JIM…
July Talk announces Halifax show for April 14, 2023
While the falling leaves might make thinking as far ahead as next spring feel impossible, Toronto rock band July Talk will help you visualize: The “Guns + Ammunition” group announced today that it’ll play a Halifax gig on April 14, 2023 at The Light House Arts Centre. Known for its duo lead vocalists who meld…
Finalists for the 2022 Nova Scotia Masterworks award have been announced
The Nova Scotia Masterworks Award just dropped its 2022 shortlist. The largest cultural prize in the province, the Masterworks Award sees a jury of experts select the top art works in a swath of mediums—evaluating their originality, artistic maturity, impact, and contribution to Nova Scotia. From a shortlist, one piece of art stands to win the…
Nova Scotia has a fixed-term lease problem
Charlotte MacDonald’s Chebucto Road apartment was small, but she loved it anyway. Three blocks from the Halifax Commons, she could grab a coffee on Quinpool, stroll over to the North End for a bite or saunter to Spring Garden Road within minutes. All for less than $900 a month. “I never had to take the…
Halifax restaurant workers know the real reason for the labour shortage
Harpreet Jagdeo has a passion for food; they’ve loved cooking since they were a kid. And they love Halifax. But after working in this city’s restaurant industry for years and barely managing to make ends meet, Jagdeo just couldn’t take it any longer. It got to the point where they were working three kitchen jobs…
Should Halifax host the World Juniors in wake of Hockey Canada’s scandal?
Of all the voices to speak about Halifax hosting the World Juniors at the HRM’s council meeting on Tuesday evening, the one that rang the clearest—and whose words may last the longest—was that of District 14 councillor Lisa Blackburn. In the wake of a spate of sexual assault and coverup allegations plaguing Hockey Canada and…
Nocturne 2022: Little children our beings they found you – mijua’ji’jk ntininaq weji’skesnik will make you remember
Little children our beings they found you – mijua’ji’jk ntininaq weji’skesnik is one of five can’t-miss projects at this year’s Nocturne, a site-specific art festival that has things popping up all over Halifax from Oct. 13 to 15. Read more about the other Nocturne projects we’re most excited about here. “If you are a product…
Nocturne 2022: A Short Story About Sidewalks holds gaze with Halifax
A Short Story About Sidewalks is one of five can’t-miss projects at this year’s Nocturne, a site-specific art festival that has things popping up all over Halifax from Oct. 13 to 15. Read more about the other Nocturne projects we’re most excited about here. “I think in the simplest sense, Halifax means home for me,” writes…
Nocturne 2022: Meet me at the Dinner Table is an invisible feast
Meet Me at the Dinner Table is one of five can’t-miss projects at this year’s Nocturne, a site-specific art festival that has things popping up all over Halifax from Oct. 13 to 15. Read more about the other Nocturne projects we’re most excited about here. “Our main thing, our main agreement, is that we want…
Nocturne 2022: so lucky so strange so persistent plays in the echos
so lucky so strange so persistent is one of five can’t-miss projects at this year’s Nocturne, a site-specific art festival that has things popping up all over Halifax from Oct. 13 to 15. Read more about the other Nocturne projects we’re most excited about here. “It was a place that I would go to late…
Nocturne 2022: QUIET PARADE marches to a more accessible future
QUIET PARADE is one of five can’t-miss projects at this year’s Nocturne, a site-specific art festival that has things popping up all over Halifax from Oct. 13 to 15. Read more about the other Nocturne projects we’re most excited about here. “[The province] has an initiative so that Nova Scotia will be accessible by 2030.…
HFX Wanderers FC president speaks on coach Stephen Hart’s dismissal
Derek Martin has a tall order ahead of him. The HFX Wanderers FC founder and president is in the market for a new head coach after dismissing the only one his club has ever had in Stephen Hart—a coach who, over four seasons, became almost synonymous with the club he led and generated no shortage…
Everything you need to know about Halifax Regional Council’s Oct. 11 meeting
This was a special meeting of council to keep the HRM’s major policy review on its new COVID-delayed schedule. This public hearing was initially scheduled for Sept. 29, but was postponed because of post-tropical storm Fiona. Since this meeting is more than 14 days after Sept. 29, there are no procedural hurdles like there would…
Why Tim Houston’s move to oust the Speaker is boring, but terrifying
As was first reported by CBC’s Micheal Gorman on Oct. 5, premier Tim Houston’s Progressive Conservative government is thinking about removing the legislature’s Speaker of the House. After the caucus meeting last week, Eastern Shore PC MLA Kent Smith said the party isn’t removing the current speaker, Keith Bain, “just succession planning.” Even though the…
Movies are back at indie theatre Carbon Arc starting this weekend
Halifax has a rich history of independent movie houses: Everyone from your grew-up-here co-worker to former national poet laureate George Elliott Clarke can wax poetic about the locally-run spot they favoured for screenings, be it The Oxford or the fantastically named Wormwood’s Dog and Monkey Cinema. (Clarke talks a lot about the transformative times he…
Nova Scotia’s early childhood educators are finally getting a raise
After years of fighting for better pay—including a walk-out last month—early childhood educators (ECEs) are getting a “decades overdue” wage bump. In a news conference on Tuesday, the department of education and early childhood development unveiled a new pay scale for ECEs working in licensed childcare centres. Related Under the old wage floor, ECEs earned…
Cape Breton’s folk-rock kings Villages return with new single, video
A first taste of the upcoming album by Cape Breton four-piece Villages dropped today, with the video and single “Love Will Live On.” The acclaimed folk-rock band has long made feet stomp and heads bob with its unique, roots-based, yet rock ‘n’ roll-balanced sound—and the band’s upcoming LP, which was recorded at Joel Plaskett’s Fang Recording…
6 things you can do in HRM this Thanksgiving weekend
It’s Thanksgiving this weekend (the real one, not November’s American Thanksgiving) and a lot of people are headed home to feast with friends and family. But what to do once you’ve stuffed yourself with turkey, gravy and mashed potatoes? We have a few ideas. Here’s a snapshot of what you can get up to this…
BOH results come out November 10 but you can get free early access
First step was nominations, then came the citywide vote for finalists. Now at The Coast we are tabulating the votes, writing the award citations and getting stoked to announce the 2022 Best of Halifax Readers’ Choice Awards on Thursday, November 10. So exciting! But it gets better. This year, for the first time ever, we…
Halifax director-actor-instructor Ann-Marie Kerr is the only Atlantic Canadian nominated for the 2022 Siminovitch Prize, the country’s largest theatre award
When asked how it feels to be nominated for the 2022 Siminovitch Prize—Canada’s largest prestigious theatre award, given to mid-career directors, playwrights or designers—Halifax actor-director-instructor Ann-Marie Kerr’s answer flows forth with the immediacy of the moment, but is as eloquent as if it’d been lifted from a script: “When I got the call, I had…
Halifax artist issues call-out for 100 volunteers to help create her next masterpiece
Miya Turnbull’s three-dimensional self-portraits masks are a combination of photography, sculpture and collage. They’re the type of exciting work that makes the visual art world sit up and take notice: Landing her on the cover of Visual Art News (the region’s largest art publication), getting scooped up by the Nova Scotia Art Bank (a provincial…
Halifax Transit will finally accept electronic payments
On Monday, Oct. 3, Halifax’s transportation standing committee met to discuss the upcoming transit payment app that the committee, and council, have already approved. Today’s short meeting was primarily about setting the fees for the cashless payment app, and answering councillors’ questions about its use. The app allows the city to offer new fare options…
Nova Scotia announces tax break for under-30 filmmakers
Nova Scotia is looking to name the next Robert Eggers, the upcoming Denis Villeneuve, Gen Z’s Greta Gerwig: Yesterday, the province announced a new batch of funding for those who work in TV and film—aimed particularly at attracting and retaining emerging talent in the under-30 cohort. An expansion to the existing More Opportunity for Skilled Trades…
Nova Scotian-shot series Moonshine‘s second season is a catch
When it comes to telling the story of a dysfunctional family that’s also financially messy, Jennifer Finnigan says Moonshine—the one-hour CBC dramedy in which she stars—has a lot to add to the canon: “I can’t compare our show to anything, really. Yes, there’s sort of quirky elements of Arrested Development and Schitt’s Creek, absolutely. There’s…
The war on pizza
Monday, Oct. 3, is as per usual, a busy day at Triple A Convenience and Pizzeria. Owner John Amyoony greets his steady flow of customers by name and asks them how their day is going while drizzling donair sauce on slices of pizza bigger than a human head. Today is different though, because he’s also…
What the law says about the war on pizza
At its heart, the war on pizza is a fight that councillor Waye Mason has picked with two small businesses in his district. The two businesses—Jubilee Junction Convenience and Takeout, and Triple A Convenience and Pizzeria—are convenience stores located across from each other at the corner of Jubilee Road and Preston Street, near Dalhousie’s main…
The Chester Playhouse is screening a movie shot in…Chester
If you’re feeling like a fall day trip is in order, The Chester Playhouse has your back with a sweet screening of the movie The Good House, held Friday October 21 at 7:30pm at the Chester Legion. A fundraiser for the Playhouse—which was gutted by a fire in 2021—it’s $20 for adults and $10 for…
Applications are now open for Symphony Nova Scotia’s $10,000 award for Canadian women composers
Symphony Nova Scotia announced today that applications are now open for its Maria Anna Mozart Award, an annual $10,000 prize that sees the symphony commissioning and performing a new piece of music penned by a Canadian woman. The first award of its kind in the country, it’s been celebrating the work—and raising the profile—of women…
Saving Canadian hockey from a goalie crisis
The dressing rooms in the Cole Harbour Place arena are long and narrow. The dressing room smells faintly of stale urine and sweat. The locker room is under the stands, the ceiling is slanted, giving the room a cramped feel. It doesn’t help that tonight the room is packed with men. Todd Bengert is tall,…
HRM council denies asking province to intervene after Dal HoCo fiasco
Halifax councillor Waye Mason is pouring cold water on reports that he’s considering appealing to the Nova Scotia government to step in after students celebrating Dalhousie University’s annual Homecoming lit a bonfire in the middle of Larch Street and sparked a standoff with Halifax Regional Police. Police estimate as many as 4,000 people gathered in…
Cliff Cardinal’s landmark play Huff opens at Neptune Theatre today
By the time Cliff Cardinal’s one-actor show Huff reaches Halifax audiences (it opens today at Neptune Theatre as part of Prismatic Arts Festival, and runs until Oct. 9), it’ll be the 200th-and-change time the lauded playwright has retold the tale. “Over the years, Huff has become more of a known quantity,” Cardinal begins, speaking by…
Classic Albums Live announces two Halifax shows for February 4 and April 16
Classic Albums Live—the roster of A-List musicians who come together on stage in the name of re-creating a beloved LP on stage—announced two Halifax shows today. The ensemble will perform Billy Joel’s The Stranger on February 4, 2023 and The Beatles’ Let It Be on April 16. Both shows will be held at The Light…
Halifax artist Ivan Flores wins provincial prize in BMO 1st Art! competition
When it comes to local art stars on the come-up, few are glittering brighter than Ivan Flores: It was announced today that the NSCAD student has won the provincial division of the BMO 1st Art! Competition. An annual prize with a two decade tenure, 1st Art! recognizes an artwork (and artist) from each province and…
Have your say on Nova Scotia’s housing strategy
The province is looking for your input on housing needs as it looks to address a Nova Scotia-wide affordability crisis. The government has launched an online survey, open as of today, to “help identify gaps in current and projected housing requirements”—in other words, to find homes for a population reaching record highs amid a supply…
Everything you need to know about the 2022 Nocturne Festival
Nocturne is art’s big night(s) out: An after-dark transformation that sees the city become a living, breathing gallery chock-full of art installations and performance. Ever since the pandemic, what was once a single evening has turned into a multi-day event, giving you even more opportunities to take in pop-up pieces of art by hundreds of…
JPEGMAFIA and Sarah Harmer announce new dates for Fiona-cancelled shows
When the arrival of Hurricane Fiona caused its own flurry of cancellations, it meant concerts by both up-and-coming MC superstar JPEGMAFIA and singer-songwriter Can-con queen Sarah Harmer had to be cancelled. The former was slated to come to Halifax as headliner for Hopscotch, the largest hip hop festival in eastern Canada. The latter was landing…
The Beaches announces Halifax show for February 24
Toronto four-piece The Beaches are no strangers to Halifax: They’ve done high-octane sets at the low-ceilinged Seahorse Tavern, and have warmed the Scotiabank Centre stage for both Matt Mays and Avril Lavigne. Today, however, the band announced its return, with a headline show slated for Halifax on February 24 at The Light House Arts Centre.…
Everything you need to know about HRM council’s Sept 29 meeting
Shorter-than-normal council meeting this week as the potentially contentious public hearings all got postponed. Public hearings need a minimum amount of notice given to people who want to attend. A last-minute postponement means that if the public hearings had gone ahead, they wouldn’t have counted, legally speaking. In spite of what you may have read…
Nova Scotia budget update highlights province’s class divide
Nova Scotia’s finance minister Allan MacMaster gave a fiscal update to reporters at Province House on Thursday, Sept. 29. The province is facing a higher-than-projected deficit this year, up $48 million. MacMaster says this deficit is due to things like $59 million less from personal income tax (AKA low wages) and cancelling the out of…
Watch Dalhousie’s Homecoming party end with police putting out a bonfire
As surely as Dalhousie University warns its students not to have “unsanctioned street parties” at this time of year, hordes of young people wearing Dal shirts gather for the annual Homecoming party in the residential neighbourhood just north of Dal’s Studley campus. HoCo 2022 started on Jennings Street, with public drinking—and urination—happening under the watchful…